Changes In Perspectives
by theperksofhavingnolife
Summary: Lily Evans changed her mind about James Potter three times.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from the **_**Harry Potter**_** series.**

**A/N:**

**So this is a story of how Lily went from hating James Potter to having his child that would one day save the wizarding world! Set into three chapters, one for each of the three ways Lily has viewed James. Please favorite/review! **

Lily Evans changed her mind about James Potter three times.

It didn't take long to come up with her first opinion of James. Just a few weeks into their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry she saw him swap poor little Ryan McDonald's wand with a rubber version, and thought from that moment on that he was prat. It didn't help when he seemed to develop a special interest in teasing _her _either. He and his friends (the equally terrible Sirius Black, the quiet Peter Pettigrew, and the one Lily liked the most out of the group, Remus Lupin) also took to messing with Lily's best friend, Severus Snape. This was _not okay_ with her, and she took it on herself to point James out on all of his wrongdoings.

During the summer after her first year, after hearing many complaints about that insufferable Potter, her mother told her that he probably teased her because he _liked_ her. That's what boys did. Lily absolutely scoffed at this idea. It was preposterous. In absolutely no way or form could James Potter like her. They despised everything about each other. This is what Lily told herself.

So that was how she first thought about him: with hatred. Or more so, an illusion of hatred. And this continued for many more years. People began to eagerly await the next great Evans vs. Potter faceoff. It soon became obvious to everyone that James loved to make Lily furious. And then he did something to make it all worse: he began asking her out.

The first time he asked her to go on a date with him was during their third year. Lily and Severus were waiting for Potions class to start when James and Sirius walked in.

"Alright Evans?" James asked her with his signature smirk (well developed by Christmas of their second year), "Snivellus," he added with a sneer.

"What do you want, Potter?" While Lily was considered very nice by her peers, she could never find a nice tone to use while addressing James.

"The first Hogsmeade trip is this weekend. I was thinking you should go with me."

Severus Snape's head whipped around. Sirius Black sighed. Lily's jaw dropped, and then snapped shut to form an angry line.

"That's not funny, Potter." Lily replied in a tight voice.

James looked momentarily confused before regaining his composure.

"I agree it's not. Though I guess I can be funny if you want me too."

Lily wanted to hex that smirk right off his face.

"Let's get this straight Potter, I'm not going anywhere with you. Not now, not ever." Lily gave him one last furious stare and then locked her gazed to the front of the classroom.

Severus Snape relaxed into a small smile. Sirius Black gave a deeper sigh. James's face lost its signature grin.

"Come on James. Let's go before Peter blows up our potion again." Sirius pulled the shocked boy away from his first rejection. There would be many more to come.

Lily couldn't believe this new addition to her issues with James. It wasn't enough that he had to prank people all the time, or make fun of them, or argue with her about _everything; _no, now he had to humiliate her further by asking her out at every opportunity. Like James would ever actually _like_ Lily. Like Lily would ever actually _like_ James.

"You know Lil," Lily's friend Marlene McKinnon told her, "I think he does actually like you. I don't think he's messing with you."

"He does not like me. He likes the chase. He likes that I say no. As soon as I said yes, he would drop me and find a new victim." Lily replied crossly, "And anyway it doesn't matter because I don't like him. I can't stand him. You know that."

Marlene simply rolled her eyes. They would have this conversation many times.

Lily had to tell a lot of people that she did _not_ like James Potter. Absolutely not. He was arrogant, she said. Pompous, self-absorbed, a show-off, rude, immature, insufferable. This is what she told herself. He _wasn't_ even that cute. Not like all the other girls seemed to think he was. His hazel eyes _weren't_ that sparkly. His hair _wasn't_ messy in a good way. He made her mad every time he ran his hands through it. He wasn't even that good at Quidditch.(Okay so he was good at Quidditch,but he didn't have to brag about it.) This is what she told herself.

Lily Evans told herself a lot of things.

This first opinion of James Potter came to a climax one fateful day at the end of their fifth year.

The fifth years had just completed their OWL exams. Most of them were resting by the lake when James Potter and Severus Snape appeared to be getting into another fight. These fights were almost as frequent as the James and Lily arguments. It appeared that James had the upper hand in this fight, and Lily ran to interfere before it could get any worse.

She tried to help Severus. That was her intent. But it appeared he didn't want her help. Not anymore. He said one word, one word that shattered their entire friendship. Lily couldn't understand what happened.

_Mudblood._

Lily was beyond mad. She was seething. She was also hurt, but she didn't want do something stupid like cry, so she took it out on the next person. She was absolutely fed up with James Potter. When he tried to defend her, she lost it. She told him just how much of an arrogant toe rag he was. She even told him she would rather go out with the giant squid. And in that moment, she meant it.

She retreated as quickly as possible back to the castle. She ran to Gryffindor tower and cried. She couldn't help it. Sev had been acting strangely and had been hanging out with a bad crowd more, but she didn't think he would actually pick their side over her. Or maybe she did, but just couldn't accept it. It didn't matter, she couldn't forgive him. He made his choice clear. And that's exactly what she told him when he tried to apologize later that night.

He wasn't the only one that tried to apologize to her that evening. She snuck out of her dorm after curfew. She didn't even care that she could get in trouble. She just wanted to be alone. She went to the astronomy tower and sat. And thought. And maybe thought some pretty bad thoughts about some Slytherins and one particular Gryffindor. And then James Potter appeared seemingly out of thin air. _Think of the devil and he shall appear_, Lily thought, _and just how did he find me_?

"What do you want Potter, I think you've enough damage for the day."

"I'm sorry Lily."

Lily was shocked. The usual self-confidence in his voice was gone, and he had called her Lily. Not Evans. She didn't think she'd ever heard him say her first name.

"I'm sorry for how I acted, and I'm sorry that you um… lost your friend."

It seemed to pain him to refer to Severus as Lily's friend.

"He wouldn't have said it if you hadn't been messing with him. Again. For no reason." Lily answered angrily. She didn't really know who to be angry with, but James was always a good option.

"Do you really believe that Lily?" James asked softly.

Lily was furious at his gall, yet she couldn't bring herself to defend Severus. She was mildly surprised that she wasn't the only one who had noticed how… Slytherin-like he had been acting lately. But she wasn't about to tell that to James so she kept her mouth shut.

They sat in silence for a while. Lily was surprised to find that it wasn't awkward. In some weird way, it was even comforting. It was also the longest she and James had been without arguing. James eventually stood up and cautiously placed a hand on Lily's shoulder. She stared momentarily at his warm hand on her slender shoulder, and then moved her gaze to his face.

"I really am sorry."

And with that, James walked away. He didn't say another word to her the remaining few days of term. Not a sarcastic comment, not a date request, not even an, "Alright, Evans?"-nothing. And Lily was confused.

That summer Lily tried to come to terms with the fact that her friendship with Severus was over. She also began to think that maybe there was something more to James Potter. _No of course there isn't,_ _don't be stupid_, she tried to tell herself, _you know Potter_. But did she? Since they met she's constantly argued with him, but had never had an actual conversation with him. Sure he acted all cool, but she couldn't ignore the look of vulnerability in his eyes when he apologized to her on the Astronomy tower. 

The summer soon drifted into autumn, and Lily prepared to begin her sixth year at Hogwarts. September 1st found her at King Cross Station, and regardless of the drama at the end of fifth year, she couldn't wait to get back to school. As she was boarding the train she literally ran into Remus Lupin.

"Oh I'm so sorry Remus! I wasn't watching where I was going." Lily apologized to the least troublesome member of the "Marauders" (as they had begun jokingly calling themselves).

"That's alright Lily," Remus chuckled, "No blood, no foul. How was your holiday?"

"Good. Boring," Lily smiled, "How about yours?"

"Oh you know, same as every year. Are you headed for the prefect's meeting?"

And so she was. She and Remus went to the annual train ride Prefect meeting, and endured this year's Head Boy and Girl's speeches. Lily couldn't wait for next year, she was hoping with all her might that she would be Head Girl. After the meeting, Remus brought up a good question.

"So which car are you sitting in?"

This threw Lily off. Where was she sitting? She usually sat with Severus. She guessed she could sit with some of the other Gryffindor sixth years, but she didn't know them all that well.

"You could sit with us, Marlene and Alice already are."

This threw her even more. _They were_? Why were her friends sitting with the Marauders? And why would she, Lily Evans, notorious James Potter hater, sit with them? Then she realized she might not have another option.

"Um, okay. Sure." Not quite believing herself, Lily followed Remus to what was sure to be one long train ride.

When they opened the door to the car, James and Sirius were playing a game of Exploding Snaps and Peter, Alice, and Marlene were all laughing as Sirius lost.

"I think that's a game over Padfoot," Peter chuckled.

Everyone looked up when the sliding door shut.

James looked shocked when he saw Lily standing behind Remus, Sirius looked amazed, Peter appeared to be scared, and Alice and Marlene looked amused and slightly victorious.

"Hey Lil! Glad you joined us," Alice said happily.

"How was the goody-goody meeting?" asked Sirius.

James just continued to look shocked.

Lily sat down by the other two girls, and Remus took a seat next to James.

After the initial shock of Lily Evans voluntarily entering Marauder territory was over, everyone returned to their normal conversation. Lily was mostly quiet and just observed everyone else. Sirius was messing with Peter good-naturedly, James and Remus were debating the odds the Chudley Cannons had for the season, and Marlene was teasing Alice about her crush on a boy named Frank.

But the thing that surprised Lily the most was the fact that she actually was enjoying herself.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 2 will be Lily changing her view of James from an enemy to a friend.**


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